A Dailey dose

Since opening her first studio in San Francisco in 2000, Jill Dailey McIntosh has been spreading The Dailey Method across the country and beyond, combining ballet barre work, core conditioning, muscle strengthening, yoga and orthopedic exercise. Check out the photos below and click here for the related article.

Wendy Donahue, Tribune Newspapers

Since opening her first studio in San Francisco in 2000, Jill Dailey McIntosh has been spreading The Dailey Method across the country and beyond, combining ballet barre work, core conditioning, muscle strengthening, yoga and orthopedic exercise.

She also has introduced the DVD “No Excuses” and her newest, “Dailey Now,” which has three workouts you can do almost anywhere — no barre necessary. “And absolutely no dance experience is required,” Dailey said. “It will make you look and feel like a dancer, though.”

A few key moves can do a lot. “We call the straight arm plank the powerhouse of all exercises, because it works almost every muscle in your body,” Dailey said, engaging abdominals, back, shoulders, quadriceps and calves.

Before you begin any home practice, Dailey recommends warming up with 30 knee lifts on each side. Then, try the following moves, keeping in mind that many of the lifts and presses are small, controlled, barely visible movements. Proper alignment is key, and a little trembling is OK.